


Three Times Eames Tried to Surprise Arthur and One Time He Actually Succeeded

by QueenThayet



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: 3+1, Banter, Fluff, M/M, eames tries to be romantic, love through surveillance, pointman arthur knows everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22730218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenThayet/pseuds/QueenThayet
Summary: Really the title says it all. Eames keeps trying to surprise Arthur. He's only succeeded once.
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 121
Collections: Eames' Stupid Cupid 2020





	Three Times Eames Tried to Surprise Arthur and One Time He Actually Succeeded

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Freezer7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freezer7/gifts).



> For Eames' Stupid Cupid 2020 - my prompt was "Failed surprise gift." I hope you enjoy it! I'm sorry it's so late, real life kept getting in the way! Thank you so much to Amy who did a quick beta and also helped me rewrite this entirely when my first version was terrible.

**1.**

Arthur was rushing out the door of his hotel room to get to the jobsite when the phone rang.

“This is the front desk, I just wanted to confirm the couple’s massage scheduled this evening for Mr. Darling and guest?”

“I think there’s been a mistake, I didn’t request that,” Arthur said, confused.

“It’s already been paid for, sir. I just wanted to confirm the time, is 7pm still acceptable?”

Arthur’s mind raced. Who knew they were here? Had their identities been compromised? Someone was clearly setting them up, they had used the “in room massage” strategy for extraction before. Eames actually made a very convincing masseur.

“Does it say who scheduled the massage?” Arthur asked the front desk clerk, hoping for more information.

“No sir, just that it was reserved and paid for already.”

“I think we’re going to have to cancel, we won’t be available this evening,” Arthur said smoothly.

“…Are you sure, sir? We can reschedule if the time no longer works for you, but unfortunately it’s non-refundable.”

“Actually, tonight will be fine after all, thank you,” Arthur hung up the phone, wondering who was after him.

Despite spending hours investigating, Arthur couldn’t figure out who had ordered the extraction, or if it was even an extraction. Maybe it was a hit or kidnapping instead. He got back to the room at 5pm, to give himself enough time to prepare. He needed to take at least one of them alive to find out who was after him.

At 6pm, he heard the electronic lock deactivate. He stood poised behind the door with his gun out, ready to grab whoever walked in the door.  
“What the hell?” Eames exclaimed as Arthur grabbed him and put a gun to his head.

“Eames? What are you doing back? I thought you were gone another day?” Arthur said, lowering and reholstering his weapon.

“It’s Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d surprise you, darling. Bloody hell, you gave me a fright!”

“When the front desk called to confirm a couple’s massage tonight, I thought that I was being targeted. That was you?”

“Oh my paranoid darling, it was supposed to be romantic, not terrifying. I was going to call you shortly to get you to come back to the room and surprise you with the massage and take out.” Eames sounded slightly exasperated.

“Well, good thing it was you and not the massage therapists then. They probably wouldn’t stick around once I’d put a gun to their heads and demanded to know who sent them.”

“No they absolutely would not. Please do not terrify the hospitality workers, darling.”

***

  
**2.**

“You should set an extra seat at Thanksgiving dinner, Gwen,” Arthur told his sister.

“Are you bringing someone?” Gwen gasped excitedly, “Are you bringing your mysterious boyfriend!”

“Less bringing and more I’m pretty sure he’s going to show up to surprise me. I got a ping that someone searched your location. So either Eames is coming to dinner, or you’re going to be kidnapped and used to blackmail me,” Arthur said dryly.

Gwen laughed, “Oh my god, Arthur, you’re a riot! Well we can’t wait to meet him! I’m overdue to give him a shovel talk about if he breaks my baby brother’s heart.”

“Please don’t,” Arthur said, pained.

“Oh, I’m definitely going to, Artie. What is the point of having family around if you can’t embarrass them in front of their significant others?”

“How much money do I need to pay you to not call me Artie in front of Eames?” Arthur winced.

“Hmm, I’ll think about if there’s anything I want more than the look on your face when your boyfriend calls you Artie. Love you! See you next week!”

Arthur sighed. He was looking forward to introducing Eames to his family, it was probably overdue. But he was seriously dreading the consequences.

***

  
**3\. (+1)**

Arthur stood impatiently at the baggage claim at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Eames had been away for months on a job while Arthur had been stuck in Paris. (As much as anyone could be stuck in Paris, it was one of Arthur’s favorite cities, he just would have rather had the freedom to travel with Eames to his job.)

He was holding a sign, as if he were a driver, for “Mr. Hollywood” the alias Eames was flying in under.

He saw the minute Eames spotted him. There was an instant of joy, then disappointment, and then he smiled as he walked over to where Arthur was standing.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Eames said casually.

“Well, it’s been ages, so I thought I’d pick you up,” Arthur said, slightly anxious.

Eames laughed, then sighed then pressed a kiss to Arthur’s lips.

“I suppose I should know better than to try to surprise you with anything. You always seem to find me out. Do you have my mobile bugged or a keylogger on my laptop, or something?”

“No, but that’s definitely an idea,” Arthur said, thoughtfully. “No, I just like to keep an eye on you, know where you are. Usually it’s just normal things like tracking your credit cards.”

“Only you would think that tracking someone’s credit cards is normal, Kitten,” Eames said affectionately.

“Well, I wouldn’t want something to happen to you and you not be able to contact me. If I know where you are and keep an eye on things, if anything happens I can get there ASAP.”

“That’s bizarrely romantic, darling.”

“So you’re not upset with me?” Arthur checked. “You looked upset.”

“Not at all, I just keep trying to surprise you and it keeps backfiring on me, “ Eames sighed ruefully.

“Oh Eames, you’ve already surprised me. I can’t imagine you’ll ever top that one.”

“When?” Eames asked. “Everything I’ve tried has gone tits up.”

“Remember back before we started dating. At Phillipa’s christening party?”

“Yes…” Eames said hesitantly.

“Cobb invited you, but I couldn’t believe you actually came.”

“Oh, well—”

“When I asked you about it, you said, and I quote: ‘well how else was I supposed to see you, Arthur? You’re always disappearing right after jobs, but I knew you’d be here for this because you’re weirdly attached to Cobb.’,” Arthur finished.

“That’s not much of a surprise, love. It’s not even like it was your kid,” Eames mumbled.

“The surprise was that you came to see me. That you _wanted_ to see me. And every day I am surprised and delighted that you want to be with me, old stick-in-the-mud-Arthur.”

“That wasn’t supposed to be a surprise, darling. I thought my crush on you was rather obvious at that point.”

“I mean, I had picked up on the fact that you hated Dom, not that it was just outright jealousy on your part. Utterly misplaced jealousy, I might add.”

“Only part of it was jealousy, part of it was just because he’s a wanker,” Eames insisted.

“But it was so out of the bounds of my experience or expectations that someone, especially someone like you, would want someone like me.”

“Darling, how could I fail to want you? Everyone else who didn’t snatch you up first is an idiot, but I don’t care because I’m so lucky that someone like you is willing to put up with someone like me.”

Arthur just had to kiss Eames at that point. A few people around them clapped and wolf whistled. Arthur glared at them.

“I think the rule about not terrifying hospitality workers applies to airport patrons as well.”

“I’m not terrifying anyone.”

“You look like you’re going to murder the next person who makes a noise with the power of your brain, Artie.”

“Call me that again, and you’ll be the person I murder with the power of my brain,” Arthur grumbled.

“Let’s go home, darling.”


End file.
